Radiohead: The Stories Behind Every Song (Stories Behind the Songs)

In great shape. Perfect gift for a Radiohead fan!

Great

If you are a serious fan of Radiohead, you should definitely get this book. I found it quite enjoyable to listen to the song corresponding to the section that I was reading. For the most part, it is very informative and provides a lot of Radiohead trivia. There is some speculation from the author, but it is clearly stated as such and is certainly outweighed by interviews, etc. The section about Hail To The Thief is not as full as the others, but it's still interesting. If you're already thinking about buying this book, you probably love Radiohead. If so, you will enjoy this book. Buy it.

The books in this series partly give the stories behind the inspiration and recording of various artists' songs, but a lot of the text just describes the music as it sounds. This is an exceptional book nonetheless, and I would recommend to any Radiohead fan.

My Radiohead fan got this as a gift and never opened it, not sure if that says anything. lol

This was a very informative and good book to read for Radioheads.

I love the depth of analysis in this book. It's well laid out and is printed on good stock. It charts the band up to the end of Amnesiac/ the I might be wrong recordings though - so anyone hoping for Hail To The Thief, In rainbows, KOL songs will be disappointed. Hopefully he will one day do a follow up to this great book!

All I ever wanted to know about Radiohead songs! I can't recommend this book enough. A must-have for all Radiohead fans!

Excellent insight into the considered motives behind songs and lyrics

It's worth me posting this review to clarify that the current version of the book DOES actually contain sections on every Radiohead album to date (Pablo Honey - The King of Limbs). Since the review below titled "Brilliant book - essential for Radiohead fans!" was posted, this book has been updated. It actually contains an even greater level of detail towards In Rainbows than it does for most of the other albums, even including analysis of each of the songs on the bonus disc. The book as a whole contains a good mix of both anecdotal discussion, and lyrical and musical analysis of each Radiohead song. The beginning of the book contains a biographical section about the bands formation and early years, and every album has its own 3 or 4 page intro discussing the creation and reception of the album as a whole. Some reviews say that Doheny strays too close to pretentious detailed musical analysis, but even as an amateur I could mostly follow his identification of precise musical features and time signatures. He also does an excellent job of identifying the musical influences behind certain songs, sometimes oblique influences (REM and Pixies are very common early influences), but othertimes requiring some informed speculation (mainly for the more nebulous output of the second half of Radiohead's career). There are also a few colour pictures of interest scattered throughout the book. A drawback that some fans of the band will find reading this book is that he occasionally neglects to mention some well-known aspects to the songs influences' or construction - but for a more casual fan this will not be a problem. He also seems to take a fairly negative view of much of the last album - especially the final song, Seperator - which unfortunately makes the last entry in the book one filled with negativity! Overall though, it's well worth a purchase. Any Radiohead fan is sure to find some new points of interest, and it makes for a nice overall reference work of the band's canon. P.S. Also of note, though the entry specifies paperback, I actually received a hardback copy of the book. Not sure if paperback copies are available, but I was pleasantly surprised to end up receiving a hardback, as it makes for more of an official 'reference-book' feel.

I wanted "stories behind every song" but what I received was an over-pretentious A level student struggling to meet the word limit and scrabbling for marks. I love Radiohead and wanted to hear about how their songs all came to be, along with any other little interesting FACTS about the band. This book did not satisfy, and while some interesting information can be found, it is drowned by the writers opinions, nauseating metaphors and unnecessary musical jargon. Very dissapointing.